civiliann.adj.
/sᵻˈvɪlɪən/, U.S. /səˈvɪljən/, /səˈvɪliən/ A. n.† 2. A person who is concerned with political matters; a politician. Obsolete. rare.† 3. Theology. A person who is good or moral as a result of reason or natural inclination rather than the inspiration of Christian belief. Cf. civil adj. 16. Obsolete.
1. A practitioner of Roman civil law, or of any of the various legal systems or codes historically derived from Roman civil law; an expert in or student of this. See civil law n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > legal knowledge or skill > one learned in the law > in specific branches or kinds of law
civiliana1425
civilistc1550
common lawyer1552
Justinianist1588
tenurist1588
commoner1591
feudist1607
criminalista1631
criminista1631
Romanist1647
pundit1661
antecessor1753
constitutionalist1766
civil1776
publicist1795
codist1831
theologo-jurista1843
internationalist1855
Sabinian1862
Pandectist1895
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 32 Þis man of lawe..was neþir civilian ne canonistre.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) viii. l. 326 (MED) Vlpian, A gret cyuylien notable of memorie..be gret auctorite He of Digestis made bookis thre.
a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. (Harl. 1666) in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (1850) 1 Sumtyme cyuylians and canonistris weren deuout, and so bisy on her lernyng.
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn l. 2069 (MED) They were grete Seviliouns and vsid probate law.
1576 A. Fleming tr. C. Hegendorphinus in Panoplie Epist. 387 I woulde wishe you to be a Civilian [Note A professour or studient of the Civil lawe, whiche yeeldeth great advantage].
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike Ded. sig. ¶¶ Twenty Ciuilians, and as many common Lawyers.
1589 ‘M. Marprelate’ Hay any Worke for Cooper 24 Ciuillians liue by the court of Amraltie..as well as by the Arches.
1651 R. Baxter Plain Script. Proof Infants Church-membership & Baptism 316 Ulpian..and all the Civilians.
1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 41 Both the Canonists and Civilians.
1740 E. Isham Let. 17 Nov. in A. P. Jenkins Corr. T. Secker (1991) 56 The Society are of Opinion that such a State of the Case should be prepar'd as has had the Judgment & Opinion of a Civilian.
1788 R. Graves Recoll. Shenstone iv. 36 He [sc. Shenstone] kept his name in the college books, and changed his commoner's gown for that of a civilian.
1830 T. De Quincey Life R. Bentley (1863) 79 (note) By civilian is meant in English—1. one who professes and practises the civil law, as opposed to the common, or municipal law of England; 2. one who teaches or expounds this civil law; 3. one who studies it.]
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity III. viii. viii. 446 Two learned civilians from Bologna.
1864 Spectator No. 1875. 641 Doctor's Commons..has dissolved itself, and civilians will ere long be as extinct as the dodo.
1921 R. Pound Spirit of Common Law i. 3 We find a court composed of Dutch judges, trained in the Roman Dutch law, holding a legislative act invalid and citing Marbury v. Madison—the foundation of American constitutional law—along with the modern civilians.
1969 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 384 161/2 The work of Justinian had become familiar to Spaniards by means of civilians trained in the law schools of Italy.
1997 Utah Law Rev. 377 The way the French think about civil law doesn't jibe well..with the way non-French civilians construct the difference between American common law and civil law.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > politician > [noun] > person interested in politics
civilian1570
politician1629
politic animal1699
political animal1710
politico1893
zoon politikon1895
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Biiv/2 A Ciuiliane, ciuilis, politicus.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > grace > righteousness > [noun] > moral only > person
civilian1616
civilista1632
1616 F. Rous Medit. of Instr. lxxiii. vii. 392 Among most of these ciuilians, regeneration and sanctification, which they attaine not, is Puritanisme.
1619 W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (i. 4) 26 Distinguishing Regenerate mens actions, from their counterfeits in Hypocrites and Ciuilians.
1642 D. Rogers Naaman 104 The meere naturalist, or Civilian..I mean such an one as lives upon dregges, the very reliques and ruines of the image of God decayed.
1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith ix. 69 There be no Morall men and Civilians in Heaven.
4.
a. More fully Indian civilian. Originally: a member of the civil service of the East India Company. Later: a member of the Indian Civil Service. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > merchant > [noun] > resident abroad > employees of East India Company
factor1600
servant1621
writer1675
scavenger1702
civilian1761
1761 Compl. Hist. War in India 82 This evening Colonel Durre, of the royal artillery, the chief of the Jesuits, and two Civilians, were sent out by M. Lally.
1766 H. Strachey Let. 25 May in J. Malcolm Life of Clive (1836) III. 54 About the rage of the civilians, and more than madness of the military.
1766 R. Clive Let. 28 May in J. Malcolm Life of Clive III. 59 If the civilians entertain the officers, dismiss them the service.
1829 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 25 364 Civilians and Indian officers returning from sick furlough.
1861 Macmillan's Mag. Aug. 257/1 Who ever heard of an Indian civilian who was not rolling in wealth, pomp, and power?
1876 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People x. 759 He [sc. Warren Hastings] won the love of the new ‘civilians’ as he won the love of the Hindoos.
1910 Times 11 July 13/5 The average Indian civilian is accustomed to turn his hand to any branch of administrative work, from commanding a fire brigade to drafting a legislative Bill.
1962 Compar. Stud. Society & Hist. 4 173 The official civilian had a generally higher status and pay than did the military official.
1993 C. Dewey Anglo-Indian Attitudes i. 3 Each Civilian had, on average, 300,000 subjects; and each Civilian penetrated every corner of his subjects' lives, because the ICS directed all the activities of the Anglo-Indian state.
b. A person who is not professionally employed in the armed forces; a non-military person.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > civilian life > [noun] > a civilian
gownsman1612
citizena1616
mohair1785
civilian1794
pékin1827
cit1833
mufti1833
non-militant1840
civvy1915
shore-loafer1916
1794 W. Woodfall et al. Impartial Rep. Deb. Two Houses Parl. II. 94 However respectable in private life, he was only a civilian, and not a regular soldier.
1829 J. Sterling Ess. & Tales (1848) I. 121 The reasons of the warlike manœuvres are made plain, even to quiet civilians.
1856 Mem. Sir R. Peel i. 123 But the chief governor..was not a civilian. He was a brave and distinguished soldier.
1868 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army ⁋287 The Officers are not responsible for debts incurred by the Messman, such Messman being a Civilian.
1897 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Feb. 4/2 Mr. Thursfield is a civilian, whose interest in the navy is not of a recent date, and who as a thinker on strategical questions will always be found logical and suggestive.
1939 P. G. Wodehouse Let. 23 Apr. in Yours, Plum (1990) iii. 85 It has just dawned on the civilians of all countries that the good old days of seeing the boys off in the troop ship are over.
1963 F. C. Crews Pooh Perplex 67 [He is] a spokesman for a whole generation—the guys that got a little gassed in the War, the ones who lost their jobs to civilians.
2007 in E. V. Linden Focus on Terrorism VIII. iii. 42 A civilian who has engaged in hostile or belligerent conduct is still a protected person, although not one entitled to POW treatment.
c. gen. A person who is not a member of a specified profession or group.
ΚΠ
1946 J. Adams From Gags to Riches xiv. 221 Show gals are smarter and keener than most ‘civilians’.
1975 Sci. Amer. Feb. 6/3 The listening public—civilians, we call them—its composers, critics and conductors are indeed fortunate that so many excellent instrumentalists spend so much time practicing and producing music.
1986 New Yorker 17 Mar. 57/1 We spotted something up top of one of our highest towers..and we climbed up and found out it was a civilian.
2003 Metro 29 Dec. (London ed.) 8/2 When you're a football player, you're a football player, not a civilian.
B. adj.
1.
a. That practises civil law (civil law n. 1); expert or versed in this.In quot. 1645 probably an appositive use of the noun.
ΚΠ
1645 J. Milton Tetrachordon 32 That Civilian Emperour in his title of Donations.]
1718 L. Echard Hist. Eng. (new ed.) II. ii. 97 By the Mouth of eight Bishops and four Civilian Judges, he received a Sentence to pay a Fine of twelve thousand Pounds to the King.
1761 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. II. 20 Baldus (Ubaldus), a famous civilian lawyer who flourished in the fourteenth century.
1814 J. Holroyd in E. Gibbon Misc. Wks. V. Index 633/2 Vicat, civilian professor at Lausanne, commended.
1833 Legal Observer 6 498/2 The recommendation of the ecclesiastical commissioners for the transfer of appeals from the High Court of Delegates to the Privy Council..expressly refers to the presence of a Civilian Judge.
1873 Daily News 9 Oct. 2/2 At the same table..sit his two civilian advocates, in black robes and white neckties, Lachaud, father and son.
1921 Harvard Law Rev. 34 835 Branche is simply a compiler, presenting a motley collection of Romanist materials from the Digest, the Sext, and the civilian commentators.
1959 Univ. Pennsylvania Law Rev. 107 900 When the continental countries abandoned the old strict rules of proof, civilian writers openly said that the trial judge now exercised ‘discretion’ in fact finding.
2003 J. M. Donovan & H. E. Anderson Anthropol. & Law Introd. 8 A common law judge possesses recognized power to fill this gap... When a civilian judge is confronted with a gap, however, she will dismiss the case for lacking a cause of action.
b. Of, relating to, or characteristic of civil law (civil law n. 1).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > branch of the law > [adjective] > civil or Roman
civil1400
Romana1768
quiritarian1838
Quiritian1839
quiritary1862
civilian1882
1882 Times 8 Mar. 4/6 This kind of jurisdiction has been tried long ago in the civilian procedure, and to some extent in Chancery.
1903 Columbia Law Rev. 3 510 Another point of Germanic procedure must seem very strange to learned persons bred in the civilian tradition... Namely, the parties before the court are wholly answerable for the conduct of their own cases.
1947 Jurist 7 144 The desire to have a code..may well be regarded as a typical way of civilian thinking, but the code itself is not an essential attribute of any civil law.
1997 M. Mulholland in J. Cannon Oxf. Compan. Brit. Hist. 212/1 Although civilian ideas and procedures affected English law..civil law was never a serious threat to the common law in England.
2. That is a civilian (in sense A. 4b); of or relating to civilians; not in or of the armed forces; non-military. Also: of or relating to the Indian Civil Service (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > civilian life > [adjective]
civil1541
unmilitary1713
non-military1738
civilian1817
bowler-hatted1909
civvy1915
1817 Medico-chirurg. Trans. 8 115 The first yellow fevers..occurred at least five months afterwards, amongst some civilian strangers newly arrived from Old France, and..never extended to the seasoned inhabitants and troops in garrison.
1858 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 150 955 The old civilian Council of Calcutta.
1864 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. All over the world military men view any civilian interference with dislike.
1864 Times 13 Sept. Men..previously passed by army or civilian surgeons.
1919 Quick March Feb. 5 Can't the civilian police do something with that fiend who accosts the lately returned soldier.
1931 L. S. S. O'Malley Indian Civil Service iv. 114 Of recent years the number of Civilian heads of departments has been reduced,..especially in the departments of Agriculture and Police.
1939 D. Thomas Let. 11 Sept. (1987) 408 I want to get something out of the war... I'm trying to get some profitable civilian work; that will probably be impossible.
1968 Mrs. L. B. Johnson Diary 8 Oct. in White House Diary (1970) 718 Both the Generals were in civilian clothes, looking curiously different and defenseless without those uniforms, which do have a charisma for me.
1994 Boston Globe 16 Oct. (News section) 21/2 Nighttime brought dread because it was then that the attaches, civilian gunmen allied to the military, would do their dirty work.
2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 5 Oct. a16/1 A piece of overnight legislation that would bring the contractors under the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts.
Compounds
In sense B. 2.
civilian casualty n. a civilian who is injured or killed as a result of military action.
ΚΠ
1900 San Antonio (Texas) Daily Light 10 July The bombardment is described as the worst yet experienced, but there were no civilian casualties, though many marvelous escapes are reported.
2007 Independent 21 Mar. 16/3 British forces are to stop using ‘dumb’ cluster bombs, to reduce civilian casualties.
civilian–military adj. consisting of or involving both civilians and members of the armed forces.
ΚΠ
1941 Crisis Sept. 292/1 President Roosevelt was called upon to appoint a civilian-military board of inquiry..to review the Ft. Bragg case.
2005 R. A. Camp Mexico's Mil. on Democratic Stage ii. 38 The divisions were not confined to civilian-military relationships.
civilian target n. a non-military building, installation, etc., which is the target of a military action.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > [noun] > object of attack
target1756
objective point1846
civilian target1915
1915 Observer 18 Apr. 12/1 (heading) German air flotillas' civilian targets.
2005 Uncut June 13/1 I'd always been under the impression that the left-wing Red Brigade..had also taken part in similar attacks on civilian targets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.a1425